An increase in the following of European politics

Verian experts present the results of the latest European Parliament’s Spring Eurobarometer to better understand the population’s behaviour and opinions in the run-up to the 2024 European elections.

On 6-9 June, European citizens will be voting for the new European Parliament. In an environment of increasingly unstable global order and domestic problems such as weak economic growth and inflation, Europeans will decide who will represent them in EU-level decision-making to address these issues.

The Spring 2024 Eurobarometer findings show that 60% of respondents in the EU follow European politics- 5-points higher than the 2023 Autumn Survey, and the highest result since the 2022 Spring Survey.

Luxembourg (74%) and the Netherlands (73%) fair particularly high in relation to the following of European politics, whilst less than half of respondents do so in Bulgaria (47%) and Slovenia (46%).

Since the 2023 Autumn Survey, Lithuania has experienced the largest increase in the share of respondents following European politics, jumping from 45% to 61%, observing a notable increase of 16 percentage points. This is closely followed by Czechia (48% to 57%), Ireland (46% to 55%) and France (43% to 52%); all of whom saw an increase of 9 points. A decrease can only be observed in Malta (from 67% to 60%, -7 p.p.) and Cyprus (56% to 51%, -5 p.p.), however those following European politics still remain the majority.

At the EU level, men tend to exhibit more interest in European politics than women (64% vs. 57%). Similarly, older respondents (55+) are more inclined to follow the political landscape than their younger counterparts (15-24) (64% vs. 48%), with this trend also extending to educational attainment. Those who completed their education at the age of 20 or older are more likely to follow EU politics than those who left education at 15 or younger (71% vs. 50%).